Human infection with avian influenza A(H5) Avian Influenza Weekly Update Number 473

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Avian Influenza Weekly Update Number 473|1

Avian Influenza Weekly Update Number 473 6 March 2015

Human infection with avian influenza A(H5)

From 27 February 2015 to 6 March 2015, no new cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H5) were reported in the Western Pacific Region. The last case of avian influenza A(H5N1) in this region was reported on 28 January 2015 from China and the last case of avian influenza A(H5N6) was reported on 9 February 2015 also from China.

Human infection with avian influenza A(H5N1)

From 2003 to 6 March 2015, 233 cases of avian influenza A(H5N1) have been reported from four countries in the Western Pacific Region (Table 1). Of these cases, 133 were fatal, resulting in a case fatality rate (CFR) of 57%.

Table 1: Cumulative number laboratory-confirmed human cases (C) and deaths (D) of influenza A (H5N1) virus infection reported to WHO (January 2003 to 6 March 2015), Western Pacific Region.

Country 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total C D C D C D C D C D C D C D C D C D C D C D C D C D C D

Cambodia 0 0 0 0 4 4 2 2 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 8 8 3 3 26 14 9 4 0 0 56 37

China 1 1 0 0 8 5 13 8 5 3 4 4 7 4 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 0 1 0 48 30

Lao PDR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2

Viet Nam 3 3 29 20 61 19 0 0 8 5 6 5 5 5 7 2 0 0 4 2 2 1 2 2 0 0 127 64 Total 4 4 29 20 73 28 15 10 16 11 11 9 13 9 10 4 9 9 9 6 30 17 13 6 1 0 233 133

From 2003 to 23 January 2015, 718 cases have been reported from 16 countries in the world. Of these cases, 413 were fatal, resulting in a CFR of 58%.

Human infection with avian influenza A(H5N6)

From 2014 to 6 March 2015, three cases of influenza A(H5N6) have been reported globally. All cases were reported from China.

Public health risk assessment for avian influenza A(H5) viruses

Whenever avian influenza viruses are circulating in poultry, sporadic infections and small clusters of human cases are possible in people exposed to infected poultry or contaminated environments. Human infections remain so far rare and these influenza A(H5) viruses do not currently appear to transmit easily among people. As such, the risk of community-level spread of these viruses remains to be low.

For more information on confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A (H5) virus reported to WHO, visit:

http://www.who.int/influenza/human_animal_interface/en/

For more information on risk assessment on influenza at the Human-Animal interface, visit:

http://www.who.int/influenza/human_animal_interface/HAI_Risk_Assessment/en/

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Avian Influenza Weekly Update Number 473 6 March 2015

Human infection with avian influenza A (H7N9) in China

From 27 February 2015 to 6 March 2015, no new cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) were reported from national authorities in China to WHO.

To date, a total of 572 laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus have been reported to WHO through IHR notification: 552 cases by China National Health and Family Planning Commission, four cases by the Taipei Centers for Disease Control, 13 cases by the Centre for Health Protection, China, Hong Kong SAR, one case in a Chinese traveler reported from Malaysia, and two cases in returned travelers from China reported from Canada.

Public health risk assessment for avian influenza A(H7N9) viruses

Overall, the public health risk from avian influenza A(H7N9) viruses has not changed since the assessment published on 2 October 2014 by WHO. To date, there has been no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission of influenza A (H7N9).

For more information on human infection with avian influenza A (H7N9) virus reported to WHO, visit:

http://www.who.int/influenza/human_animal_interface/Influenza_Summary_IRA_HA_interface_26January2015.p df.pdf?ua=1

For more information on risk assessment on avian influenza A(H7N9) virus, visit:

http://www.who.int/influenza/human_animal_interface/influenza_h7n9/Risk_Assessment/en/

Animal infection with avian influenza

From 25 February to 6 March 2015 in the Western Pacific Region, animal infections with avian influenza viruses were reported in China and Viet Nam.

H5N1 HPAI infections in tigers, China

Two fatal infections of H5N1 HPAI in Bengal tigers were reported in a zoo in Guangxi.

http://www.oie.int/wahis_2/public/wahid.php/Reviewreport/Review?page_refer=MapFullEventReport&reportid=1 7249

H5N3, H5N2, and H5N8 HPAI outbreaks in poultry, Taiwan, China

One outbreak of H5N3, 27 outbreaks of H5N2, and six outbreaks of H5N8 HPAI infections in poultry were confirmed.

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Avian Influenza Weekly Update Number 473 6 March 2015

H5N1 HPAI outbreaks in birds, Viet Nam

One outbreak of H5N1 in birds was reported in Soc Trang.

For more information on animal infection with avian influenza viruses with potential public health impact, visit:

- World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) web page:

http://www.oie.int/animal-health-in-the-world/web-portal-on-avian-influenza/ and http://www.oie.int/animal- health-in-the-world/update-on-avian-influenza

- Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) webpage: Avian Influenza:

http://www.fao.org/avianflu/en/index.html - OFFLU:

http://www.offlu.net/

- EMPRES:

http://www.fao.org/foodchain/empres-prevention-and-early-warning/en/

Latest information on human seasonal influenza

For the latest information on the seasonal influenza situation in the Western Pacific Region, visit:

http://www.wpro.who.int/emerging_diseases/Influenza/en/index.html

For latest information on the global seasonal influenza situation, visit:

- Epidemiology:

http://www.who.int/influenza/surveillance_monitoring/updates/latest_update_GIP_surveillance

- Virology:

http://www.who.int/influenza/gisrs_laboratory/updates/summaryreport

Other updates

WHO Statement released in February 2015: “Warning signals from the volatile world of influenza viruses”

http://www.who.int/influenza/publications/warningsignals201502/en/